File-case.



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APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29. 1902.

H0 MODEL.

JNVENTOR. Wdh'am (Beam ATTORNEY.

WITNESSES.-

NITED STATES Patented November 10, 1903f WILLIAM C. BENBOW, OF COLUMBUS,OHIO.

FILE-CASE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,429, dated November10, 1903. Application filed January 29, 1902. Serial No. 91.682. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. BENBow. a

following is a specification.

ception of catalogues and similar articles.

pointed out hereinafter.

companying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view in perspective of myimj proved file-case with one of the doors removed for the sake ofclearness in illustration. Fig.

2 is an enlarged sectional view through a portion of the upper end ofthe casing, showing the means of supporting the compartmentforming rods.Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the case, taken transversely through theshelves; and Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a portion of the'case.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views..

In carrying out my invention I employ a suitable base-frame 1, which ispreferably of the oblong form shown and which may be providedwithremovable drawers 2. The upright file-case body 3 is pivot-allymounted upon said base "1 through the medium of a} suitable pivot-bolt4:, which depends'from the central portion of the under side of thefilecase body and passes loosely through an opening inthe centralportion of said base. The under side of the body 3 is provided atdesirable intervals with depending casters 5, which are arranged on animaginary circular line drawn on the under side of the casing and whichare adapted to bear upon the base 1 or upon a suitable track-plate 6,surmount ing the same.

. wise open front and rear sides thereof are citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at 00- 1 lumbus, in the county of Franklin and State ofOhio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in File-Cases,of which the adapted to be closed by suitably-hinged doors 7. Betweenthe vertical end walls of the case are supported upon cleats 8 orotherwise the ends of parallel and horizontal shelves 9, the

latter being arranged at desirable intervals.

My invention relates to the improvement I of file-cases, and hasparticular relation to the improvement of file-cases adapted for the re-Q l of the casing into suitably sized compart- The objects of myinvention are to provide; a file-case of improved construction andarrangement of parts, to provide improved l means for forming andregulating the sizes of compartments, to provide improved means forremovably supporting the compartment-'1 dividing rods, and to produceother improve- 1 ments, the details of which will be more fully Theseobjects I accomplish in the manner illustrated in the ac- I 1 erablysubstantially that shown in the draw- In order to divide the spacesbetween these shelves and the space between the upper and lower shelvesand the upper and lower sides ments, I provide a plurality of verticalrods 10, which intersect said shelves at desirable points. In order toprovide a desirable form of detachable support for each of the rods, anopening is bored vertically through the top 3 of the case 3, into whichis inserted a wood-screw 11, the lowemend of this woodscrew havingscrewed in connection therewith the upper threaded end portion of therod 10. The arrangement of the rods is prefings, in which a central rowof said rods is employed, said row extending approximately throughoutthe width of the casing and is intersected by cross-rows, there beingtwo of these cross-rows shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings, with the resultthat the intersection of the rods and shelves form between each pair ofshelves six compartments. It is obvious, however, that any desirednumber of the rods may be used and that the same may be arranged in anydesired relative po- 1 sitions, so as to form compartments of difierentnumbers and sizes. It will here be noted that besides dividing theinterior of the cabinet into compartments the rods 10 prevent loosenessand accidental displacement of the shelves 9 when the doors are open,and anyshelf may be removed to increase the height of any compartment bylifting the rods clear of such shelf and then drawing the latteroutwardly through any open side of the cabinet, the rods of coursebeing'replaced after the removal of the shelf.

In one side of the case 3 I provide a removable drawer 12, one or moreof the shelves 9 being recessed at its end, as indicated at 13 in Fig.1, to permit the entrance of the body of the drawer between the shelves,also to form a guide, so as to prevent lateral play or XCO looseness ofthe drawer. This drawer is particularly designed for the reception ofcards where a card-indeir-file system is employed.

In case it is desired to remove the rods 10 or certain numbers thereoffor the purpose of increasing the size of the compartments it is obviousthat the screw 11 may be readily removed with the result that the rodmay be drawn outward therewith. By filing or cutting ofi the lowerportions of the rods 10 it will be seen that two or more compartmentsmay be merged into one, and that this severing of said rods will in noway interfere with their support.

It is obvious that a file-case of the character herein shown anddescribed will be exceedingly convenient for the reception ofcatalogues, records, or papers of any character, and that the shelvesabove or below the various compartments may be. provided with indexletters or numbers in the usual manner.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

p .1. In a file-case, the combination with a casing-body andedgewise-removable shelves arranged at intervals therein, of a pluralityof endwise removable compartment forming rods intersecting said shelvesvertically and removably suspended from the top of said casing,substantially as specified.

2. In afile-case, the combination with a casing-body, removableshelves'arranged at intervals therein,said casing-bodyhaving openings inits upper side, of rods intersecting said shelves, and rod-supportsremovably inserted in said upper side openings with which the upper endsof said rods are connected, substantially as specified.

3. A cabinet, having a series of edgewiseremovable shelves, and a seriesof endwiseremovable rods piercinga portion of the body of the cabinetand the shelves to divide the interior of the cabinet into compartmentsand to prevent looseness and accidental displacement of the shelves. Y4. Acabinet, having a series of corresponding ledges, edgewise-removableshelves supported upon the ledges, and a series of endwise-remov'ablerods piercing one end of the cabinet and the shelves to preventlooseness and accidental displacement of the latter.

5. The combination withacabinet, of avertical series of removableshelves therein, removable rods piercing the shelves and dividing thecabinet into compartments, and rodholding devices removably carried bythe top of the cabinet and connected to the upper ends of the respectiverods.

6. The combination with a cabinet, of a vertical series of shelvesremovably supported therein, removable rods piercing the shelves andprovided with upper screw-threaded ends, and removable rod-holderspiercing the top of the cabinet and provided with screw-threaded socketsreceiving the screw-threaded ends of the respective rods.

'7. The combination with a cabinet, of a vertical series of removableshelves, removable rods piercing the shelves and having their upper endsscrew-threaded, and wood-screws removably piercing the top of thecabinet and provided at their inner ends with screwthreadedsocketsreceiving the screw-threaded ends of the respective rods.

8. The combination with a cabinet-body which is open at the front andthe back thereof, of doors to close the open front and back, a verticalseries of shelves within the cabinet and edgewise removable through theopen front and back thereof, and vertical rods piercing the top of thecabinet and the shelves and also removable vertically to permit theremoval of the shelves, said rods forming means to prevent looseness andaccidental displacement of the shelves.

9. A cabinet-body having a series of edgewiseremovable partitions, and aseries of endwise-removable rods piercing a portion of the cabinet andthe shelves to prevent looseness and accidental displacement of saidshelves and to permit removal thereof when the rods are Withdrawntherefrom.

10. A cabinet-body having a series of removable partitions, a series ofendwis'e-removable rods piercing one side of the cabinetbody and theshelves to divide the cabinet into compartments and to prevent loosenessand accidental displacement of the shelves, and removable rod-holderspiercing said side of the cabinet'and provided .in their inner ends withscrew-threaded sockets, the adjacent ends of the rods beingscrew-threaded and received within the screwthreaded sockets of therespective holders.

WILLIAM o. BENBOW.

In presence of- O. C. SHEPHERD, A. L. PHELPS.

